Face value

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What's in a smile? Why do some women like men with heavy brows and
jutting jaws. Researchers David Perrett and Fhionna
Moore examine the mystery of attractiveness.

We know which faces we find attractive, but why? And what can a
face tell us about the person within? We know we shouldn't judge by
appearances but we do all the time, often making decisions about
people even before we speak to them.

Is this sensible? Obviously someone's face can tell us his or
her sex and rough age, but can it tell us about mood, health or
personality? And why do we find certain faces more attractive than
others?

Our team has been investigating these mysteries using computer
graphics to create composite faces of those who share a particular
personality trait. We extract the shapes, colours and textures
common to the faces of, say, extroverts, and then amplify or
diminish them, and ask people to rate the altered images for
attractiveness.

We have found that someone's face can send out a wealth of
signals about what they are like. We have also found a remarkable
consistency in peoples preferences for faces.

Take masculinity, which is very visible on the face. The
principal male sex hormone testosterone causes the jaw and eyebrow
ridge to become more prominent and facial hair to grow. But it is
not without its costs. The hormone suppresses the immune system and
diverts energy into building up muscle mass.

That means men who thrive on high testosterone clearly have
superior immune systems and are capable of getting sufficient
nourishment despite this handicap. Women should therefore be
attracted to faces that display masculine characteristics.

But masculinity can signal behaviour as well as physiology. On
the plus side, masculinity signals dominance. A study of the US
Army by Ulrich Mueller and Allan Mazur in 1997 revealed that the
more masculine a recruit's face, the higher his rank. However, our
own studies show that people often perceive someone with a
masculine face in the extreme as cold, dishonest, a poor father and
less likely to commit to a long-term relationship.

Are such perceptions justified? It appears so. In 1998, Mazur
and Alan Booth reviewed previous research and concluded that men
with high testosterone are less likely to marry and more likely to
divorce. This presents women with a dilemma: a high degree of
masculinity signals some good qualities and some undesirable ones.
This may be why women's preferences for "masculine" males depend on
their own beauty, health, age and status.

Indeed, the same woman can choose differently depending on her
circumstances: women may prefer masculine male faces during the
fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, or when they are looking
for a short-term relationship. Such choices probably also reflect a
trade-off between the need to acquire good immune system genes for
offspring and a more caring partner for a long-term
relationship.

Similarly, typically "female" facial characteristics, such as a
small nose and chin, large eyes and full lips, reflect high levels
of the hormone oestrogen. These facial traits can signal that a
woman is of reproductive age and fertile. Many are most marked in a
woman's early 20s and decline with age.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we have found that exaggerating the way
female faces differ in shape from male faces makes them more
beautiful. We are looking at whether mens preferences vary in
the same way that women's do.

What about health? Can a person's face tell us how fit and well
they are? Certainly sickness is associated with facial pallor. In
the late 19th century Francis Galton merged photographs of
tuberculosis victims. The resulting composite face looked pale and
ill compared with a composite made up from the faces of British
soldiers serving with the Royal Engineers.

Today, a study by Britainbased researchers Craig Roberts at the
University of Newcastle and Ben Jones at the University of Aberdeen
suggests that healthy-looking skin on the cheek reflects a healthy
immune system and a lifestyle with sensible eating, sleeping and
exercise patterns.

A person's health might also be reflected in their facial
symmetry. Symmetry reflects the ability to grow straight despite
all of life's challenges, including infection and stress.
Symmetrical faces are good all round: they are considered
beautiful, they have betterlooking skin, and symmetrical people
even smell nicer.

Perhaps the most useful facial indicators are those that tell us
about personality. Is that really possible? Ian Penton- Voak at the
University of Bristol and Anthony Little at the University of
Liverpool, have found that it is - up to a point.

Using questionnaires, they asked a group of volunteers to choose
words that best described their own personalities. People who rate
themselves as extroverts tend to use words such as warm, sociable,
emotional and affectionate, whereas those who rate themselves as
introverts use words with opposite meanings.

The researchers then showed photographs of the volunteers to a
second group, asking them to describe their personalities based on
photographs alone. They found that, in many cases, the way a person
described themselves tallied with how other people judged them from
the photographs.

Overall, personality insights are better than chance, and this
can help us in life and love. However, it is important to be aware
that our first impressions can be wrong, and we must guard against
our presumptions.

Moreover, some aspects of personality are not written in the
face. Francis Galton attempted to isolate criminal
facial features by photographically merging the faces of convicted
felons. Despite Victorian prejudices, he found no looks common to
criminals: indeed, he found his photographic blend of convicts
looked surprisingly "handsome".

- New Scientist

● To participate in research
on facial attractiveness conducted by David Perrett and Fhionna
Moore at the University of St Andrews, go to www.perceptionlab.com